Went to see Sonata Arctica / Dragonforce at Ram's Head Live
5th or 6th time seeing Dragonforce, 4th or 5th seeing Sonata.

Thought was going to be late, but some opener was on (Taking Dawn? What a bad name). I didn't really pay them much attention and was more happy to not miss any Sonata. Looked at their ever present Wolf Shirts at the merch table. One guy had one a Hoodie that had a wolf head as the hood. So ridiculous.

Sonata sounded good, but a little muddy. Last Drop... was the best sounding because everything sounded quite crisp. I felt like their set was away too short (they played about 30 minutes to Dragonforce's over 70 minutes (approx). Oh well. Dragonforce sounded good, lot of energy and their usual stage antics. Could not understand much of what Sam and Herman were arguing/telling jokes.

People at this show were a bit more aggressive than I recall (or really like) for a Power Metal show, and the moshing seemed a bit random and mean spirited for the most part. That kind of interrupted my enjoyment of the show, as I had to keep my wits about me headbanging to avoid getting caught in a mosh.

I did enjoy the deep cut (Where Dragons...) being played.

The setlists were about the same as the other shows I've seen posted here

DragonForce (approximate, I really don't recall the exact order of the middle, so an approx setlist based on what I've seen posted here)

1. Fury Of The Storm
2. Heroes Of Our Time
3. Reasons To Live
4. Starfire
5. Operation Ground and Pound
6. Fields Of Despair
7. Keyboard duel with Sonata keyboardist
8. Where Dragons Rule
9. The Last Journey Home
10. Valley Of The Damned
11. Strike Of the Ninja
12. Through The Fire and Flames